TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     Just like in the past launch reviews is not something i prefer to do for a variety of reasons and i don't think that will change, not anytime soon. Also i always try to perform all tests with the latest possible drivers (even beta ones), however due to time issues and also because some older models are no longer in our hands this is not possible so once again both the card and the driver used to benchmark it (when it was available) will be noted in this section. Also take into consideration that all tests were done with the default driver settings in both the Catalyst Control Panel and the NVIDIA Control Panel (power management modes are set to maximum performance) to make things fair and square.

Gainward GeForce GTX 670 Phantom 2GB - GeForce 304.48 Beta
HIS Radeon HD 7850 iCooler 2GB - Catalyst 12.3
HIS Radeon HD 7770 iCooler 1GB - Catalyst 12.3
Gainward GeForce GTX 590 3GB - GeForce 301.24 Beta

     Once again the screen used for all the benchmarks is our primary NEC 30" 3090WQXi LCD with a maximum resolution of 2560x1600. Unlike in the past and since quite a few of you asked instead of having multiple different settings and just 2 resolutions we decided to have a total of 3 resolutions (2560X1600, 1920X1200, 1680X105) and a single quality setting (4xAnti Aliasing) to make it easier to pinpoint the differences between cards (more FPS, easier to see). We also changed our game lineup and so this time over we will be using Aliens VS Predator, Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, Alan Wake, Hard Reset and The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. For these benchmarks we maxed out the graphics settings of each game and also updated them to their latest versions. All tests were repeated 3 times and in a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1 64Bit installation on an OCZ RevoDrive 3 240GB SSD. As usual all tests took place in a room with a controlled ambient temperature of 23 degrees Celsius, the temperatures of the cards were recorded using AIDA64 (former Everest Ultimate by Lavalys) and GPU-Z while the noise levels were recorded using our ExTech HD600 dBA meter from a distance of no more than 5-10cm away.